Standards getting tougher for h.s. graduation, college admission

Thursday

Nov 14, 2013 at 6:00 AMNov 14, 2013 at 12:49 PM

By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — Holden native Maryanna Owoc, a senior at Worcester State University, took the stage at North High School Tuesday and described how she has done work at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute and has even performed surgeries on mice.

The packed house of 400 students from North, Doherty Memorial, Burncoat and South High Community schools gave that a mixed response but seemed impressed.

"Your futures aren't fixed," Ms. Owoc said. "Take four years of math, take four years of science, so that when you get to college, you can take advantage of all the opportunities you didn't even know existed before."

The event, which featured five college students, was part of Go Public!, a campaign by the state Department of Higher Education to build interest in state colleges and universities, such as Worcester State, Quinsigamond Community College and the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In Worcester, the Go Public! campaign coincides with changing high school graduation requirements designed to help students get into those schools.

While community colleges like Quinsigamond and Mount Wachusett are open enrollment, state universities have higher minimum requirements than what Worcester seniors will need to graduate this year.

The main shortfall at the moment is two years of foreign language.

But the state is increasing its admission requirements. By the time this year's high school sophomores are applying to state universities, they'll need four years of math. The class two years behind them will also need two lab courses among their three science courses.

Worcester public schools are changing their graduation requirements starting with this year's high school freshmen, the class of 2017, and they'll meet or exceed those state university requirements. The new requirements add a fourth year of math, two years of the same foreign language, a world history course, a course in the arts, five additional core courses of the student's choosing and a physical education course per year.

Only 4.6 percent of the class of 2013 would have met those requirements, but the biggest shortfall was physical education classes, according to David A. Perda, Worcester public schools' chief accountability officer.

Statewide, it's hard to know what percentage of high schools require four years of math and three of lab science, as the state universities will eventually require, but more and more high schools are doing so, said J.C. Considine, a spokesman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

If students want to get into engineering, management or computer science at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, there are more specific requirements, like algebra 1 and 2, geometry and calculus or trigonometry. Engineering applicants must also have chemistry and physics classes on their record.

Worcester Superintendent Melinda J. Boone said district leaders started looking at changing the graduation requirements two years ago to better prepare students for college and for the higher demands of today's jobs.

"Parents want to know that their child's diploma will be a door opener," Ms. Boone said. "I realize all students won't go to college, and that's fine. But if you look at careers now, the pathways are about the same."

College-savvy students could find the high school courses they needed before, but "it was clear that it wasn't an expectation for all," she said.

The changes were also an outgrowth of courses students said they wanted to take and should make courses more rigorous.

Some students are already getting the message. Jonathan Alvarado, 15, a sophomore at North, is taking two math classes this year and plans to take calculus his senior year. He hopes to study engineering at UMass or another four-year college. "All I know is I gotta take a lot of math," he said.

Kiana Stone, 17, a senior at North, hopes to study criminal justice at a private college, but she is taking four years of math and science, including a course in biotechnology. She liked the Go Public! presentation but said public colleges are too big for her. She'll probably apply to one, but only as a safety school.

Admission isn't as competitive at state universities as at elite private colleges, but it isn't guaranteed, either. Worcester State, for instance, accepted 60 percent of this year's applicants, which is down from the 69 percent it accepted in 1993.

Not all accepted students enrolled. Fitchburg State, meanwhile, accepted 62 percent of the applications it received from first-time freshmen for this year's entering class. That's actually more than the 57 percent it accepted in 2013 (Fitchburg figures from 1993 were not immediately available).

UMass Amherst accepted 63 percent of the students who applied this year, a considerably smaller percentage than the 82 percent it accepted in 2003.

A number of students at North Tuesday learned that their high MCAS scores had qualified them for a John and Abigail Adams scholarship, which gives them free tuition at a public college or university. However, in Massachusetts, the tuition is far smaller than fees, which make up the bulk of the cost and are not covered by the scholarship.

Community colleges are generally low-cost and can be used to transfer to four-year programs, but the four-year programs, while having a lower price tag than private colleges, might not offer the same amount of financial aid as a small, well-endowed private college. Actual costs and financial aid packages vary by student.

Go Public! speakers urged students to look for private scholarships, on-campus work and, if they plan to enter a high-salary field, take out loans.